Disused train station now sits next to powerful Cambridge University …

An old Cambridgeshire railway station is now on the site of some of the world’s most advanced telescopes. The closure of a Cambridgeshire^[1] train station in the 1960s made room for the expansion of the University of Cambridge^[2]‘s Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory (MRAO).

Lord’s Bridge station opened in 1862 off Cambridge Road and on the train line running from Oxford to Cambridge^[3]. It closed in 1968, with the MRAO opening to the south of the station in 1957.

The site then expanded onto the area of the tracks when the Bedford^[4] to Cambridge line stopped operating on New Year’s Eve in 1967, shortly before the closure of the Lord’s Bridge station itself.

The loss of Lord’s Bridge paved the way for the observatory’s Ryle radio telescopes, which were named after Martin Ryle – director of the observatory when it first opened.

Professor Ryle went on to win the 1974 Nobel Peace Prize for Physics alongside Antony Hewish, astronomer and head of the MRAO between 1982 and 1988.

The station building itself has been renovated with part of it being used as a house, while another section contains a visitors’ centre and a small lecture theatre.

The MRAO is now home to some of the largest and most advanced aperture synthesis radio telescopes in the world. It is run by the Cavendish Laboratory, and supported by the Science and Technology Facilities Council.

Lords Bridge Station’s importance is not just based on the scientific advancements its closure allowed for. During World War Two, its air ammunition park and filling depot were used to fill and store mustard gas bombs.

References

1. ^{^} Cambridgeshire (www.cambridge-news.co.uk)
2. ^{^} University of Cambridge (www.cambridge-news.co.uk)
3. ^{^} Cambridge (www.cambridge-news.co.uk)
4. ^{^} Bedford (www.cambridge-news.co.uk)
5. ^{^} The ‘most haunted house in Cambridge’ where people have seen the ghost of a nun (www.cambridge-news.co.uk)
6. ^{^} All the pubs in Cambridge that no longer exist including one loved by Pink Floyd (www.cambridge-news.co.uk)